Speed controller and indicator.



J. L. WHEELER.

SPEED CONTROLLER AND INDICATOR.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

8 SHET-SHEET 1.

Aims [I7 VEII 101' 4? J. L. WHEELER. SPEED CONTROLLER AND INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1914.

1,134,026, v Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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WW I jaw/ J. L. WHEELER.

SPEED CONTROLLER AND INDICATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 21, 1914 Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

JOHN L. WHEELER, NAPA, CALIFORNIA.

SPEED CONTROLLER'AND INDICATOR. v v

s ecimen of Letters Patent.

Patented-MaLBO, 1915.

Application filed latch 21,- 19141 mm m. ceases.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jonn L. WHEELER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city andcounty of Napa' and State of California,.lhaveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Speed Controllers andIndicators, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to speed governors or controllers and indicatorswherein a governor is driven directly from one of the wheels of thevehicle and operates adjustable mechanism adapted to interrupt theelectrical circuit to'the spark plugs when the velocity of the vehicleto which the gov- I ernor is attached exceeds a predetermined speed, andwherein a number is displayed cons icuously to indicate the speed for'whic the governor or controlling means is first, to provide means for.breaking the vehicle reaches a given velocity; second, to

driver of the vehicle that he has reached the indicated speed oragreater one; th rd,

to provide adjustable means for regulatmg the speed at which thevehiclemay'trave before the. spark plug circuit .is-broken or the alarmsounded; and fourth, to provide means whereby a conspicuous indicationis troller is set. I accomplish these several in the drawings forming apart ofthe present specification wherein like :characters of referenceare used to designate similar parts throughout the said specificationand drawings and in whichfront portion of an automobile disclosing ofthe vehicle. A Fig. '2 is a front view of thereto and the manner inwhich a number indicator disk on the dashboard of the vehicle and an armconneetedjto'the conside elevation of l i .the circuit to the in orderto disclose the adjustable means set,and the objects of my invention arespark plug circuit when the speed of the' sound an alarm which willindicate to the thereon.

displayed of the speed for which the confeatures by means of the deviceillustrated accelerated.

Figure 1 is a broken side elevation of the the device secured theretoand the manner in which thesame is connected, by means of a flexibledrive shaft, to one of the wheels the vehicle disclosing the devicesecured is conspicuously displayed which: indicates the number of milesper hour at which the device is set to interrupt ithe-sparkfcircuit. fFig. 3 is anenlarged broken" viewof the trolling device which indicatesto the driver u the number of miles per houwionwhich the device is set.a Fig. 4 is a front view of the controlling mechanism with the frontportion of the housin removed. Fig. .5 1s. a

4 with the housing shown-1n section. Fig. 6 is-a detailed view 60 of thecontact points for making and breaking the circuit to .the' alarm andspark plu s. Fig. 7 is a rear sectional vlew part y in' section wherebythe speed for which the. device is set. may be adjusted. Fi s. 8 and 9are broken detailed views of t e operating lever and the manner in whichthe same is secured to and insulatedfrom the sleeve of -IIO thegovernor.Fig. 10 is a brokendetailed view of the circuit controlling lever, the

o eratin lever and the adjustable insulated s eeve w ich regulates thedistance. between the said levers, the said sleeve being shownr'gflb' inits lower position or asset-for the--minimum speed. Fig. 11 is a viewsimilar to. Fig. 10 wherein the adjustable sleeve-is set for the maximumspeed. Fig. '12.. is a. broken plan view of Fig. 10'... Fig. 13 is.detailedgQO view of the free endof the circuit breaking lever disclosingthe resilient spring contacts Referrin to the drawings the-numeral 1 isused to esignate'a suitable base-.thatmayc.

be secured in any manner to the front or' I radiator of an automobile orsimilar vehicle.

3 is a collar to which the governor 4 is secured-and 5 is the roovedcollarwhich is :raised as the spec of the governor ise P0 The governor iis driven by means- 6 61 flexible shaft 6, secured to the collar 3,which is in turn rotated by means of the pinion 7 and the ear 8securedin the usual mannerci to one o? the front wheels 9 of a vehicle.

. The operating lever 10 is pivotally secured to a "suitable standard'12 and has its outer or free end directly under the adjustableinsulated sleeve 14 whi ch is provided withazl the. inclined seats 15,and loosely mounted upon a vertical shaft 26.

' .Pins 16' are secured to" the circuit breaking lever 17whi'ehishpivotal'ly secured to the 'standard"1 8-. on"theinsulated base-19. The freeend of thefacireflit breaking lever 17' is provided'withthe resilient spring contacts 20 and 2 1-ar'ranged' to engage thestationarycontacts and 23 1 "es'pectively. Y

' The adjustable insul ted: sleeve -14 rests- 1 dicate numerals on astationary d1sk 32 secured to the said dash board. The shaft is alsorovided with a numbered disk 34 mounte within the housing 35. The frontportion of the said housing has an aperture 36 throu h which theuppermost numeral on the isk 34 is displayed.

A buzzer is secured to the dash board of the vehicle and hasa connection41 to the insulated contact 22. The other side of the buzzer is groundedin the usual manner to the frame of the machine. A live con- -necti0nleads from the magneto, not

shown, to the standard 18 to which the circuit breaking lever 17 ispivotally secured and a connection 46leads from the contact 23 to thedistributor. In other words, the circuit breaking lever 17 completes theconnection between the magneto, or battery, and the distributer, notshown. Fromthe distributer suitable connections areprovided to thevarious spark plugs. Inasmuch as the magneto, distributer and sparkplugs are no part of the present invention I have eliminated the samefrom the drawing.

' The operation is as follows: The fly ball governor-is driven by meansof the collar 3 and flexible driving shaft 6, pinion 7- and gear 8 onthe wheel 9. It is obvious that the speed of. the governor 4 will be inthe direct proportion 'to'the speed of the wheel 9. An increase of speedofvthe wheel 9 will result 7 in an acceleration of the speed of thegovernor, 4,:and the grooved collar 5 will be raised proportionately.

' If it-is desired that the speed of the vehicle shall not exceed' say20 milesper hour thecontroller is set to break the circuitbetween themagneto and the distributor, and also to conspicuously indicate thespeed for which the said -governoris set, in the folof the shaft 30 willbe turned so as to point to thenumeral 20 on the stationary disk gas .onthe dash board of the vehicle. As the shaft 30 is partially rotated itwill in turn partially rotate the numbered disk 34 within the housing 35and "display the numeral 20 opposite the aperture 36 in the said housing35 which is secured to the radiator and 4 of thedrawingsg g'Simultaneously the lowmgmanner: The pointer 31 on the end" i when thespeed of the vehicle shaft 30. and in turn partially rotates the beveledgear 29 on the vertical shaft 26 to which the said'gear 29 is secured.This will cause the pins 25, on shaft 26, to engage the slots 24 of theextension 14 and partially rotate the sleeve 14. As the sleeve 14rotates it will brin that portion of the inclined seats 15 un er thepins 16 which will provide a space between the said seats 15 and thesaid pins 16 equal tothe distance that the free end of the lever 10 willbe elevated when the vehicle is traveling afifthe rate of 20 miles perhour. We will assume, for the purpose of illustration, that the s eed ofthe vehicle is 18 miles per hour an gradually increasing. As the speedof the vehicle in creases the speed of the fly ball governor 4 will beincreased accordingly and the grooved collar 5 thereon will be liftedwhich will in turn raise the lever 10. and the sleeve 14 loosely mountedon the shaft 26 until the inclined seats 15 of the said sleeve 14 engagethe pins 16 of the circuit breaking lever 17; thereby causing the freeend of the. said lever 17 to ralse, and the resilient spring contact 20to engage the contact 22 before the contact 21 is released from thecontact 23. As thecontact 20 engages the contact 22 a portion of thecurrent of the magneto, or battery, will flow through the line 41 .to'the buzzer 40. The other side of the said buzzer 40 being grounded tothe magneto,

an alarm will be sounded which will attract the attention of the driverto the fact that the speed of his vehicle is 20 miles per hour or thespeed indicated by the pointer 31 on the disk 32 and by the numeral onthe disk 34, which is displayed through the aperture 36 in the housing35 on the front of the vehicle. If the alarm is ignored by the driverthe continued increase of the speed of the vehicle will cause acorresponding increase in the speed of the governor 4 which will causethe grooved collar 5 secured thereto to raise the operating lever 10still'higher 1 until the said lever" 10 raises the circuit breakinglever 17.to a point where the contact 21 will be separated from thecontact 23. I This will break the circuit between the magneto and thedistribute: and while the motor will continue to-draw in and'compressgastherev will be no spark to firethe compressed charge, consequentlythe motor will cease to drive the vehicle. In other words, is such thatthe governor 4 will raise the lever 10 and thereby the lever 17 asuflicient height, the spark will be cutout and the motor will cease toproduce energy. As the vehicle is thus deprived of its power it willslow down until the governor 4 restores, throughthe medlum o theoperating lever 10, the circu1t breaking lever 17 to a point where thecircuit. is-again closed through the contacts 21 and 23 when the sparkwill then be cut in and the vehicle be propelled as before.

The sleeve 14 is insulated so that the circuit from the line 45 will notbe grounded through the lever before elevating the lever 17.

It is obvious that by rotating the shaft 30, the shaft 26 and sleeve 14will be rotated accordingly which will bring the lower portion of theinclined seats 15 on the sleeve 14 below the pins 16. The speed at whichthe vehicle must travel before the spark will be cut out is in directproportion to the space between the inclined seats 15 and the pins 16.When the sleeve 14 is turned so that the upper portion of the seats 15are directly under the pins 16 as shown in Fig. 10 of the drawings aminimum speed will lift the lever 17 and sound the alarm. By giving theshaft 26 a one-quarter revolution collar 14 will be turned so that thelower portion of the seats 15 thereon will be directly under the pins16. Consequently the vehicle will have to travel at a high rate of speedbefore the governor 4 will operate the lever 10 and raise the saidsleeve 14 on the end thereto a suflicient distance to bring the lowerportion of the seats 15 against the pins of the circuit breaking lever17 It'is obvious from the foregoing that I have provided improved meansfor breaking the spark plug circuit when the vehicle 1 has attained apredetermined velocity, and

also improved means for sounding an alarm just previous .to theinterruption of the ark plug circuit which will indicate to the river ofthe vehicle that he has reached the speed for which the controller hadbeen set. I am aware that the present state of the art discloses speedcontrollers and indicators wherein the igniting circuit is shortcircuited when the vehicle reaches a predetermined speed. I therefore donot wish to claim such a combination broadly as my invention; but I WhatI do claim as new and desire to secuie liy Letters Patent iS-,

dicator secured to the front 0 a vehicle and arranged toindicate the seed for which the controller operatively connected to one of the wheelsof the vehicle and to the indicator and adapted to interru t theigniting circuit of a motor when t e s eed of the vehicle attains apredetermine speed; and means secured to the dash board of the vehicleand arranged to operate the indicatorand to determine the v eedcontroller and indicator for automobi es and the like comprising aninspeed at which the speed controller will be operated.

2. A speed controller and indicator for automobiles and the likecomprising an mdicator secured tothe front of the vehicle 'the vehiclewhereby the controller and indicator may be operated.

3. A speed controller and'indicator for automobiles and the likecomprising an indicator secured to the front of the vehicle and adaptedto indicate the speed for which the controller is set; a speedcontroller operatively connected to one of the wheels of the vehicle andadapted to interruptthe igniting circuit of a motor when the vehicleattains the speed indicated by the indicator; a shaft operativelyconnected to the indicator, controller and to the dashboard of thevehicle whereby the controller and indicator may be operated; and meanssecured to the dash board of the vehicle and operatively connected tothat end of the shaft and arranged. to indicate to the operator thespeed for which the controller is set.

4. A speed controller and indicator for automobiles and the likecomprising an ineratively connected to one of the wheels of the vehicleand adapted to interrupt the igniting circuit of a motor when thevehicle attains the speed indicated by the indicator; a shaft operativelconnected to the indicator, controller an to the dash board of thevehicle whereby the controller and. indicator may be operated; astationary numbered disk secured to the dash board of the vehicle andarranged to rotatably engage that end of the shaft; and a pointersecured to that end of the shaft and arranged to indicate on thestationary disk the speed for which the controller is set.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

